


Binary Star

by Pennyplainknits



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: mcsmooch, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-17
Updated: 2010-01-17
Packaged: 2017-10-06 09:26:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pennyplainknits/pseuds/Pennyplainknits
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to Kiss of Last Resort</p>
            </blockquote>





	Binary Star

**Author's Note:**

> The COBE results are the results from the Cosmic Background Explorer mission that confirmed, with an almost invisible margin of error, the theory of the Big Bang.

Rodney's going to propose to Keller.

No, that's not right. He's going to propose to _Jennifer_. Must remember that. Jennifer.

He has the ring, shiny gold and sapphire, and he knows she likes him, chose him over Ronon, and really, that must mean something, right? That she could have had Ronon, tall and brave and handsome, but chose him. She must see something. Something worth loving, if he can change. So Rodney tries, he does. Tries to be the man she wants, to be kinder and gentler, not shout so much, not say things she doesn't understand, be _nice_, the way she sees him. And if by the end of the day the stress is giving him a headache, and the tension makes his shoulders hard as rocks, well, that's the price you pay, it seems. For someone nice. To not be alone.

So, he's going to propose, and she'll say yes, and it'll be. Nice.

Except, it seems John (always John, not Sheppard, not now) has other ideas. Hurrying from John's room, from a kiss that told him more about John in ten seconds than he's learnt in five years, his thoughts race, trying to put it all together. Because that kiss, that kiss was a un-discovered galaxy, an extra-solar planet, something huge and unexpected that, when discovered, makes perfect sense.

He paces round and round, fitting everything together, running the math, making the comparisons.

When his feelings slide into focus, it's like the reading the COBE results all over again, the way everything is suddenly, startlingly clear. That, when he's with John, that is what it's _supposed_ to feel like. Love's not supposed to be _difficult_. It's not a small, calm life and a hundred different ways to disappoint her. It's racing cars and spaceships and exploration and everything that made him smile as a child, and John, John, by his side, the two of them a binary system, inextricably linked.

And then he's rushing out of the door and into the transporter, and he's at John's door, and overriding the lock, and stumbling through. The room is dark, and he can hear some of John's country music, and John's just how he left him, hours ago, slumped into the chair, head in his hands.

"Come to yell at me?" John asks, not looking up.

"I should do."

He sees John's neck tense, knows he's clenching his jaw, and thinks it should have been a hint that he can read his expressions from the back of his head.

"I want you to know," John says, low and raspy,"I'll stand up with you. I mean, I'd like to be there, when,"

"I knew you were self-sacrificing, but I didn't know you were a moron," Rodney snaps, and it's liberating, being able to speak his mind after months of biting his tongue.

John just sighs, broken, and it's not right, not how they are. So Rodney crouches in front of him, with his hands on arm of the chair, and says

"I didn't ask her," and touches his lips to John's.

It's _sorry_ and _you should have told me_ and _I'm me when I'm with you_ and _ let me try_ and _I remembered you longest_ all wrapped up in lips and tongue and John's clutching hands.

When they break apart John is glassy -eyed and reaches back for Rodney immediately, and Rodney can't understand how he missed this.

"Keller?" John asks.

"Well, it would never have worked. Not like this," Rodney says, leaning forward to rearrange their universe with the press of his mouth.

And it is much, much more, than nice.

**Note:** The COBE results are the results from the Cosmic Background Explorer mission that confirmed, with an almost invisible margin of error, the theory of the Big Bang.


End file.
